Category Archives: treat

Post navigation

Alternative: make this incredible Moroccan orange cake, which takes less than ten minutes (in my experience) to prep and can be baked while you cook dinner and left to cool on the stovetop while you eat.

A guy named Zach emailed our tips line to let us know that Doritos make for excellent kindling for a fire. So our staff decided to experiment with a bunch of snacks you might bring camping for their multi-purpose potential.

Summer approaches, and you could probably go for an icy treat. Why not try a recently rediscovered 1844 recipe for sorbet possibly designed to put you in the mood for love? All you need is some kitchen staples plus ambergris, or—if you’re out—“the glandular secretions of a muskrat.”

The road to pie perfection is paved in pitfalls, and I’ve fallen in a lot of them throughout my baking career. When it comes to a single-crust pie, it’s important to first weight the naked crust with pie weights, rice, or dried beans and baking it (called “blind-baking”). Then, uncover and bake it some more—that ensures nary a soggy bottom. But getting the crust to just the right color depends on the type of filling you’re adding. Use our pie crust spectrum to determine how far to take it, and when enough color is enough.

Q: What do you recommend for pie crusts made out of graham crackers or oreos?

As much as I love Oreos (some might remember a previous rant), they really don’t work well as a crust base. The cookie itself does though, which is why many recipes and I recommend chocolate wafer cookies in their stead. Although, certain Oreos do make for an amazing Grasshopper pie.

In The Doritos Effect, author Mark Schatzker discusses the complex flavor profile that makes snack foods like Doritos and Coca-Cola irresistible. Everybody knows what Coca-Cola should taste like, but it’s very difficult to isolate exactly what’s going on. Do we taste a little bit of vanilla? A hint of lime? Maybe some cinnamon? It’s the same with Doritos, which are at once cheesy, garlicky, peppery, and packed with umami. Your brain can’t completely process their taste—which means it’s easy to consume large quantities without ever getting sick of that elusive nacho-cheesier flavor.

This recipe needs some Accent (or other brand of MSG) to be a little more authentic to the original. Before anyone complains, MSG is no worse for you than salt and it really boosts the umami flavor of the cheeses.

If you Google the words “green smoothie,” you will be inundated with recipes for the perfect healthy shake. You might have to look a little farther for the elixir popular in Peru and Bolivia, which relies not on leafy greens, but on the endangered Titicaca water frog.

Want to know something crazy? Sugar doesn’t melt; it undergoes thermal decomposition. That may sound like a pedantic distinction, considering we’ve all watched sugar effectively melt into a pool of caramel atop crème brûlée, but the implications are huge—worthy of far more explanation than a mere tl;dr.

The weather is warming and my thoughts have turned towards ice cream. There’s something extra satisfying about whipping up your own frosty treats, but not everyone has an ice cream machine. Let’s run through a few of our favorite frozen desserts that you can make without any special equipment.

One thing about American condensed milk is that it tends to taste of weird plastic – I think from the heat of pre-canning. Latin American condensed milk didn’t use to taste this way but with manufacturing changes it just might, I no longer know what’s what. But I think that Vietnamese condensed milk, if you can get it (Amazon carries it), is the one that still tastes great and not plasticky at all.

Semifreddo. There are a billion recipes out there but the easiest is 1 pint heavy cream whipped to sitff peaks. Fold in 1 jar of lemon curd a bit at a time.. Pour into a saran wrap lined loaf pan. Cover tightly with more saran and freeze.To serve: remove from pan, slice and nom-nom-nom.